Improved brick-machine



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Letters Patent No. 83,769, dated November 3, .1868.

IMPROVED BRICK-MACHINE.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To all whom yit may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD Fsnox, ofthe city of N ew York, in the countyand State of ew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Machines for Moulding and Pressing Bricks; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact-description thereof,reference 'being had to the annexed drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure l is a front elevation of abrick-machine embodying my improvements.

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof, showing the hopper, a portion ofthe mould-carriage, and Que plunger, in section. l

Figure 3 isa plan or t'op view of themachine.

Figure 4 is a vertical section taken transversely through thehead-block, two moulds'and two plungers, on the plane of the line :r a',iig. 3.

Figure 5 is a vertical section, taken longitudinally through thehead-block, one mould and its plunger, on the plane of the liney y, iig.3.

Figure (i is a plan or top view of two moulds, showing the plates whichform the sides of the moulds.

Figure i' is a plnnview of. the mechanism byfwhich the pressed brick isremoved from the face ofthe mouldcarriage.

Figure 8 is a vertical transverse section, taken on the plane of theline z z, iig. 7, showing a sponge or other absorbent of oil in thepusher-block, for lubricating the moulds.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures.

The nature of my invention consists in a system of toggle-bars orlevers, for operating the plungers to press the bricks, and to revolvethe mould-carriage, whereby great power and precision in operation areobtained; also in providing the head-block, against which the clay ispressed, with perforations for permitting the escape of air or bubblesof water from the clay whilst the same is being pressed and moulded, andwith 'a movable plate, which is directly over the moulds, and which canbc removed for planing when necessary; also in a pushing-blockand itsactuating-mechanism, as hereinafter described, in combination with themouldcarriage for moving ther bricks from off the mould-carriage, afterthe same'..have been delivered up to the face ofthe mould-carriage; alsoin an. arm, in combination with the plungcrs, for supporting the latteruntil their lower ends rest upon the inclined plane.

A designates the foundation or bed 'of the machine. B is a driving-Wheelmounted on a shaft, a, and deriving motion from any suitable motor, bymeans of a belt, a', or any' other suitable mechanism. C is abcvelgearwheel mounted on the shaft a, with which wheel G there engages another'bevel-gear wheel, C', the lat- `ter being mounted on a vertical shaft,D, which has itsbearings, at its lower end, in a box formed in orattachedto the foundation of the machine, land at its upper end in atransverse beam, l), secured to vertical supports, b' b', rising fromthe topof the machine, or, more definitely speaking, from the top of thehopper E, (asshown in figs. l and 2,) to which latter they are bolted attheir lower ends. O11 the top of this vertical sha-ft D a gear-wheel, F,is secured, which engages with lan other gear-iiheel, F', mounted on thetop ofthe shaft G of the mixing and forcing-screw or propeller. Thismixing-screw or propeller consists in detail (refer to iig. 2) of theshaft- G, to which is secured a number of arms, c c', those, c, servingas mixers, and those, c', as propeller-s, to press the clay downward,and these latter are constructed and arranged much like the wings of apropeller-wheel, and operate in much the same manner.

The hopper E is conical in shape, its greatest diameter being at thetop, and the mixing and forcing-propeller G c c is fit-ted to revolvetherein, and to conform to the taper thereof. It is wellknown that clayshould be properly mixed, even after being ground, before being mouldedor pressed into bricks, and these arms c accomplish the mixingthoroughly, and after this the clay drops down to the propeller-wheelsc', to be forced by them down into the moulds d d, in thehorizontallyrevolving mould-carriage H, as will be understood byreference to iig. 3. This mould-carriage H is mounted on a central post,I, and is arranged to revolve in a horizontal direction, and in suchmanner as to bring the moulds d d directly under the discharging-end ofthe hopper E.

J J are the plungers, (see figs. 2, 4, and 5,) which are of a size tofit into the moulds d d, and they are prevented from dropping down toofar by a ring or stop-piece, t, attached to the lower face of themouldcarriage, or formed therewith, as most convenient and desirable, ashoulderI formed upon the lower part of said plunger-s resting on suchring t, as shown in figs. 2 and 5. Any other suitable arrangement may,of course, be employed for preventing the plungers dropping out ofthemoulds whilst passing from the hopper to the pusher-block, presently tobe described.

K (refer to iig. l) is a pusher-block for forcing the plungers up in themoulds, at the proper time to press the clay in the moulds into theproper size for bricks. The pusher-block (refer to fig. l) is attachedto one of a pair of toggle-bars, e e', the lower bar, e', beingjournalled in a box, z, secured to the foundation of the machine. At thepoint where the bars e e are jointed together, there are connected twopitman-rods, f j, arranged parallel with each other, which rods, bymeans of aA pin passing through an arm or pitman, j, connected to acrankj, upon the shaft c, are jointed to two other rods, j' f', whichlatter have their outer ends Lpivoted in the foundation of the machine.These rods ff operate as toggle-bars. At the point where the toggle-barsff are connected together there is also pivoted a rod, g', which isattached to a vertical lever, g, and the said vertical lever is pivotedin the founda.

tion of the machine, so as to have a to-and-fro motion, and at the topof said vertical lever a drawing-pawl, h, is connected by a-ball-joint,or in any other suitable way. The outer end of said draw-pawl h carriesa hook, which catches against teeth, fc', (see figs. 1 and 3,) formedupon the periphery of the mould-carriage H, and causes the same torevolve a certain distance at stated intervals of time. This airangementof toggle-bars is an important feature of my improvements. It will beunderstood that, though I have described two bar s, fj, and two bars, j'f', only one of each can be used, instead of the two, if desirable.

The box s, in which the lower end of the toggle-bar e is pivoted, isbolted or secured tothe fbundation of the machine, in such manner thatit can be raised by wedges or blocks placed under it, and thus the twotoggle-bars e e can be raised. This provision for a vertical adjustmentof the toggle-bars e e enables the bricks 'to be made larger or smaller,as is evident, inasmuch as the upper bar, e, throws the plungers fartheror not so far up into the'moulds, and hence the size of the bricks canberegulated.

L is an inclined plane extending part way round the central post, I,ascending 'from the pusher-block K nearly to the hopper, and thendescending, upon which plane the ends of the plungers ride, in order todischarge the bricks from the moulds, as lwill be hereinafter explained.

L', fig. 1, is an arm secured to a lug, d', projecting from the inclinedplane, and arranged' in such manner as to be pressed by a spring, af,against the lower part of a plunger, as it comes round to it; and, wheneach successive plunger is pushed up bythe pusherblock K, the said armwill be forced, by means of said spring, under a shoulder on saidplunger; and after the pusherblock K is drawn down, said plunger willrest on said arm, and be supported whilst being carried round, until itslower end rests on the inclined plane L, and hence the plungers, afterthey have been forced up to press the clay, are not allowed to drop,only a very little, and thus the pressed clay is permitted to expand avery little before it isv forced out of the moulds, and the pressedbricks come out in a perfect state.

N is a beam or head-block, secured at its inner end to the hub I, and atits outer end to a vertical post, M. The said head-block is arranged soas to press upon or very closely to the face ofthe mould-carriage H. Themoulds, afterhavin g been filled with clay while under the hopper E, arebrought round under this headbloek, and up against it the clay ispressed bythe plungers, in order to forni the bricks. At the point wherethis head-block rests over the mould-carriage, it is planed truly andevenly; so as to fit snugly.

It has been found that by permitting the air and bubbles of water toescape 'om the clay during the pressing and moulding-operation, muchmoreperfect bricks can be produced. I accomplish this object by makingslots, q, transversely through the head-block N, (refer to figs. l, 4,and 5,) where the same rests over the moulds, and by makingperforations, r, through the wall or face of the head-block N, directlyover the moulds. These peiforations are very small, but larger at thetop than at thebottom, as shown clearly in figs. 4 and 5, and throughthese escape the air and bubbles of water which may be in the claywhilst the same is being pressed and moulded. I have shown, in figs. 14, and 5, a plate, P, set into the head-block N, under the slots andover the moulds, against which the clay is pressed; and this plate P canbe taken out, for planing the same, whenever necessary. rIhe clay whichmay ooze through these perforations lr can be pushed out of the slots qwith a rod or stick.

The moulds d d are lined with plates, s, (refer to rigs. 4, 5, and 6,)which are properly fitted thereirr in any proper manner, as will be seenby reference to fig. 6. These plates can be removed, for smoothing orplaning the same, shouldit be necessary, and theyy can be adjusted so asto increase or diminish the size of the mould. Corresponding-sizedplungers are, of course, in such cases, to be used.

The means employed for removing the bricks from the face of themould-czuriage, after the same have been pushed out ofthe moulds, bythe-plungers sliding up the inclined plane to a point which brings theirfaces flush with the top or' the mould-carriage, consists of a block, O,(refer particularly to figs. 1 and 7,) which is connected, by means ofan arm, u, to a lever, V, the said lever V being pivoted to a block, w.The outer end of this leverv cam'es a pin, x, which travels in' a groovein a cam, R, secured to the verticalshaft D. The said block O isstea-died and guided by two rods, r r, and it is caused to move back andforth by the lever V, which is actuated by the piu travelling in the camor groove, and it pushes the bricks off the face of the mould-carriageinto or upon any suitable receiver, as lthe same are delivered from themoulds. This block 0 is provided with a cavity, (see dot-ted outlines infig. 7,) into which is placed .a sponge or other absorbent of oil, sothat when the said block is brought over the moulds, the latter a-nd theface of the pluugers will be lubricated, whereby the adhesion ofthe clayto the plungers and the sides of the moulds is, in a great measure,prevented.

The operation of the machine is as follows:

The ground clay is fed into the hopperE in any suitable manner. I haveshown, in fig. 1, an 'endless belt, x, carrying cups, which take up theclay and deposit it in a trough leading to the hopper. This clay isthoroughly mixed in the hopper by the arm e, and

forced down into the moulds by the propeller-wings c. The mould-carriageis then revolved by the draw-pawl h, sufhciently to bring another mouldor pair of moulds under the hopper, and so on, till the moulds firstfilled are brought so that the plungers J are directly over thepusher-head K, which, by means of the togglemechanism, throws up saidpusher-head, and presses and moulds the clay. As thepusher-headdescends, a' shoulder on the plungers rests on the arm L', until carriedround far enough for their lower ends to rest upon the inclined plane L.The same operation continues till the moulds containing the pressed andmoulded bricks are brought in front of the pusher-block O, where, asbefore stated, the plungers will have pushed the bricks up even with theface of the mould-carriage, when the pusher-block comes forward andpushes the bricks off. It will be understood that the mould-carriage isat rest whilst the moulds are being filled, and whilst the clay in themoulds is being pressed, the draw-pawl h, at such times, advancing toseize another tooth, to draw the mould-carriage forward, and that, justas the mouldcarriage begins to revolve, the pusher-block advancesquickly and pushes oii` the bricks, and reeedes in time to be inposition for the next operation.

YVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-' Y' 1. The combination and arrangement of the togglebars e' c andff', pitmau j, crank and plunger k, with the mould-carriage H, operatingsubstantially as and for the purposes herein specified.

2. The head-block N, provided with slots q, in combinatiou with theplate P, provided with perforations fr fr, substantially as and for thepurposes herein specified.

4. The arm L', in* combination with the mould-eari liage H and plungersJ, substantiz ily as and for the purposes herein specified.

` EDWARD FARON.

Witnesses:

EDWARD FRY, PETER MARTIN.

